


Trouble Comes in Threes

by lahdolphin



Series: A Very Potter Haikyuu!! [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Canon-Typical Violence, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-05
Updated: 2016-03-05
Packaged: 2018-05-20 22:11:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6027244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lahdolphin/pseuds/lahdolphin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sawamura knew those two were trouble the second they came into his compartment on the train, sat down without asking, and wrecked havoc on Sugawara’s homemade pumpkin pasties. (The Hogwarts AU no one asked for.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trouble Comes in Threes

**Author's Note:**

> Remember these guys are just baby first years so if you see any characterization issues, it's likely on purpose because they are eleven and not yet fully grown into their canon personalities. 
> 
> To put-that-damn-spirit-portal-out: Thank you for helping me with this since I've never written HQ before. You're an awesome person and I really appreciate your help!

_I made these for the train ride.  
Don’t eat them all at once or you’ll get fat!_

_–Sugawara_

Sawamura stared at Sugawara’s note with a mixed feeling.

On the plus side, he had pumpkin pasties that were worth killing for and he was going to Hogwarts.

On the down side, Sugawara wasn’t next to him to keep him from eating all the pumpkin pasties at once and getting fat.

Sawamura put the letter into his robes then pulled the shiny, copper tin of homemade sweets into his lap. Sugawara always made the best sweets; his mother owned this little bakery in Diagon Alley, and Sugawara had been raised to make delicious things. He would come over to Sawamura’s with flour on his shirt and icing on his fingers, and ask if he wanted to play Exploding Snap.

Sawamura had just started smiling to himself like some sort of idiot when the door to his compartment opened and two boys came inside.

One had strangely shaped black hair that swooped up on one side like bad bed head, and the other had striped hair that looked fluffy and oddly feather-like.

The one with striped hair, who had large golden eyes that seemed unnatural even to a wizard, sat down across from Sawamura and smiled at him.

“Who are you?” Sawamura asked, short. Sugawara would hit him for being rude. _But Suga isn’t here_ , Sawamura thought.

“Bokuto,” the yellow-eyed boy answered, unoffended. “And that’s Kuroo.”

The boy still standing at the door waved a single hand. “Isn’t it rude to ask someone’s name before giving your own?”

“Sawamura,” he answered shortly. He then asked, “Do you have to sit here?”

He would much rather be alone so he could eat all the pumpkin pasties at once and get fat. ( _Sorry Suga_.)

“Everywhere else is full,” Kuroo said. He then took it upon himself to fully enter the compartment, shutting the door behind him and sitting down next to Bokuto.

Sawamura, whose jaw was tight and nerves were on their last end, opened the copper tin of sweets in his lap. Inside were four perfect pumpkin pasties.

Sugawara’s pastries looked nearly as good as they tasted, with heaps of ice-cream flavored frosting that turned cool when you took a bit.  

Sawamura felt his mouth water.

Bokuto said, “Ohhh, those look good! What are they?”

“Pumpkin pasties,” Sawamura answered.

“You know,” Bokuto began, very excited, “my favorite pastries are cauldron cakes with raspberry filling, but I’ve always liked pumpkin pasties too. Chocolate frogs are my favorite candy, though. I collect the cards.”

Sawamura wondered if Bokuto took time to breathe. He kept going and going, without pause, talking animatedly with his hands.

“You know,” Kuroo said, “he may stop if you just give him one.”

After a moment of consideration, Sawamura grabbed one of the pasties and handed it to Bokuto, who inhaled it, eating the entire thing in three bites.

“DELICIOUS!” Bokuto screeched. “Is this frosting enchanted? It got really cold. It tastes just like ice-cream!”

Kuroo looked at the tin, eyeing it. “Ice-cream, huh?”

Bokuto looked at Sawamura with wide, innocent yellow eyes and crumbs on his chin. “Did you make these? They’re really good.”

“My friend did,” Sawamura said.

“Sorry,” Bokuto said, shoulders dropping. His posture and, from what Sawamura could tell, personality did a complete one-eighty in the matter of a second.

“Forget it,” Sawamura sighed as he sunk down into his seat.

“Can I have another, then?” Bokuto asked.

“Hey, let me have one before you start taking seconds,” Kuroo said.

Sawamura handed out the tin, too tired to argue. “Help yourself,” he said.

He’d just ask Suga for more when he wrote, which he planned to do regularly like they had promised. Just because they weren’t going to the same school didn’t mean that they had to lose touch.

Luckily, Sawamura didn’t have to talk to either Bokuto or Kuroo. They seemed perfectly happy talking about Quidditch or the rumored Hogwarts giant squid without his input.

Instead, Sawamura stared out the window at the countryside, taking in the rolling hills and far off mountains, wondering how much longer until they arrived, and which house he would be sorted into.

It was peaceful until Bokuto screamed. Loudly.

“Dude!”

Sawamura snapped his head towards them, panicked. Then he saw why Bokuto was screaming.

There was a tiny calico kitten crawling out of Kuroo’s pocket onto the train seat.

“You had a cat?” Bokuto said, beaming with energy. “You didn’t tell me you had a cat!”

“His name is Kenma,” Kuroo said, scratching under the kitten’s chin. “He’s my familiar.”

“You screamed,” Sawamura asked, slow, irritated, and moderately confused, “because of a cat?”

“A kitten, technically,” Kuroo said, now cradling the small animal in his hands for Bokuto to scratch. But Kenma the kitten did not want anything to do with Bokuto, scratching at him and biting his finger. “Can’t you tell the difference, Sawamura?”

Sawamura was silently rooting for the kitten to succeed in biting off one of Bokuto’s pastry-coated fingers.

“Hey, Kenma, stop that,” Kuroo said. “Ow, don’t bite me too!”

After several more moments of shushing from Kuroo and hissing from Kenma, the cat calmed down and fell asleep in Kuroo’s lap.

Sawamura hit his head against the glass, cursing himself for letting these two stay in his compartment. He had a feeling there wouldn’t be another peaceful moment on the train ride, or for the next seven years.

And, well, he wasn’t wrong.

 

* * *

 

Sawamura managed to lose Kuroo and Bokuto when they loaded into the boats. He sat next to an awkward, tall, lanky boy that barely fit into the boat. The boy was holding a spotted toad and did his best to be as small as possible.

Everything else happened quickly. An elderly professor who wore sweeping robes and was called Nekomata met them at the castle then led them inside to the Great Hall, where there were four tables filled with hungry students and a hat that sang. Owls flew across an enchanted ceiling, and floating candles dripped wax onto the floor below.

It was all relatively normal, by wizard standards.

Bokuto was amongst the first first years to be called up to sit on the stool, where Professor Nekomata put the singing hat on his head. Bokuto sat with his back straight and eyes wide, and Sawamura half expected him to pounce at something. He looked like a startled animal.

The hat had hardly touched Bokuto’s head before shouting, “HUFFLEPUFF!”

Kuroo’s name came further in the list. After two minutes on top of Kuroo’s horribly styled hair, the hat had made its decision, and shouted, “SLYTHERIN!”

Finally, when Sawamura’s name was called, he put his head high and pretended his palms weren’t all sweaty. He walked like his knees were properly holding his weight and sat down on the stool, staring up at the edge of the old, torn up hat as it was placed on his head.

Then the hat spoke directly into his head, so that no one else could hear, and Sawamura inhaled sharply.

 _“Ahh,”_ the hat said. _“There’s a lot going on inside your head. It would be wrong of me to sort you quickly. You are very ambitious, with a bright future ahead of you! A bit of a temper, but nothing too bad… Slytherin would suit you well.”_

 _“Not Slytherin,”_ Sawamura thought. He did not want to be placed in the same house as Kuroo.  

_“Not Slytherin? Hmm. Alright then. How about Hufflepuff? You could do well there. You are a hard worker, who is unafraid of toil! Your dedication and loyalty are quite strong. You would make a fine leader there.”_

_“Not Hufflepuff either.”_ That’s where Bokuto went.

_“You know, boy, this isn’t your choice in the end. But you are stubborn, I will give you that, so it better be…”_

Sawamura was ready to tear the hat off his head if it shouted Slytherin or Hufflepuff, and was greatly relieved when it did not.

“GRYFFINDOR!”

He could live with that.

 

* * *

 

_Suga,_

_I was sorted into Gryffindor. You owe me five sickles. You betted on Slytherin, remember?_

_Our head of house is new this year—I think his name is Professor Ukai. He got drunk at the feast but he seems okay. He’s coaching the house team too._

_Classes start tomorrow, but I’m sending this to you before breakfast so I can’t say anything about classes yet. I’m looking forward to flying lessons at the end of the month._

_~~Sincerely~~ _  
~~_Yours truly_~~  
~~_From_~~

_–Daichi_

_PS: Can you make me more pumpkin pasties? Some guys on the train ate them all._

 

* * *

 

When Sawamura saw on his schedule that all four houses had Astronomy and Herbology together, he wondered if his luck could get any worse. He could deal with Kuroo and Bokuto by themselves, which he did for many classes, but together they would be a nightmare.

His luck could get worse, apparently, because Bokuto and Kuroo were assigned to be his Herbology partners.

On the first day of class, Bokuto played with the hoses in the back of the greenhouse, causing a minor flood that lost the three of them five house points, while Kuroo kept asking about poisonous plants that didn’t leave behind traces in the blood.

 

* * *

 

_Daichi,_

_I’m glad you’re making friends! I was worried you wouldn’t. Sometimes you get this scary face. Anyways, I made extra pasties for your friends. What are their names? Are they in Gryffindor too?_

_I arrived at Beauxbatons earlier in the week. The grounds are gorgeous. We have Charms in crystal caves! So much has happened but I don’t know what to write. Do you feel the same?_

_–Sugawara_

 

* * *

 

Sawamura did not eat all the pumpkin pasties at once but he did lose several more to Bokuto and Kuroo, who cornered him after Potions (they blew up their cauldron, which impressed their professor so much that he gave them both ten points).

“We’re exploring the dungeons,” Bokuto said. “Kuroo said there’s a hidden statue of Merlin. If you can find it, you’re guaranteed to pass all of your classes!”

“Passing is a pretty low bar,” Sawamura said.

“I never said the statue was hidden,” Kuroo said. “It’s just hard to find.”

“Probably because it doesn’t exist,” Sawamura said.

“Or it’s a magic statue!” Bokuto said excitedly.

Sawamura sighed. He went to go up the stairs with the rest of their classmates, but Bokuto and Kuroo each grabbed one of his arms and steered him deeper into the dungeons.

They never found the statue, but they did get lost and eat most of the pumpkin pasties. They were only found several hours later by a laughing prefect, who led them out of the twisting labyrinth of halls.

 

* * *

 

Astronomy was held at midnight in the tallest tower of the castle. They had lecture in the classroom, and then headed outside to the roof to use their telescopes to mark the movements of planets and check the locations of stars.

Sawamura found an unoccupied spot on the roof, set down his lantern, and began to unfold his bronze telescope. He was just about to toss the frustrating object off the roof (it refused to elongate) when someone spread a blanket out next to him.

Sawamura wasn’t surprised when he looked up and saw Kuroo and Bokuto. Kuroo, who was apparently cold blooded like his house’s symbolic animal, was wrapped in a silver and green scarf and wore two pairs of gloves, despite the weather being rather pleasant. It was just beginning to feel like autumn, but tonight was oddly warm and more reminiscent of the long lost days of summer.

Sawamura couldn’t even be mad that they had appeared because the cobblestone of the roof was cold against his bottom, and a blanket sounded amazing.

“Bo, why are there so many feathers on your blanket?” Kuroo asked, making a disgusted face as he shook Bokuto’s blanket and dozens of tiny white and black feathers came off. “Did you kidnap an owl or something?”

Bokuto laughed as he hurriedly picked up the loose feathers, shoving them into his bag. “Yeah, mate, of course. Want to come with me next time?”

Kuroo spread the blanket out again. As Bokuto and he settled down, pulling out their parchment and telescopes, Kuroo looked at Sawamura.

“You can sit on it, you know,” Kuroo said. “It’s not made of Devil’s Snare or anything.”

“Yeah!” Bokuto agreed. “We put it down next to you for a reason.”

“We’re very nice people,” Kuroo said, with a smile that said otherwise.

Regardless, Sawamura’s bottom was cold and the feather-covered blanket looked warm. He quickly gathered his things and moved over the few feet onto the blanket, then continued to mess with his telescope. Kuroo laughed at him for not being able to find the button that made it open.

 

* * *

 

_Suga,_

_Their names are Kuroo and Bokuto, but they’re not my friends. Kuroo is in Slytherin and Bokuto is in Hufflepuff._

_Thanks for the pumpkin pasties. They were really good. Can you get into the kitchens at Beauxbatons? The house elves get upset if you go into the kitchens here, but they like Kuroo and give him food. I don’t even know how he FOUND the kitchens._

_–Daichi_

 

* * *

 

On a particularly warm afternoon, Sawamura found himself walking around the lake’s edge with Bokuto and Kuroo. He had been walking by himself, enjoying the grounds before the leaves began to red and fall as autumn came, when Bokuto and Kuroo managed to find him and invited themselves along.

Everywhere Sawamura went, Bokuto and Kuroo seemed to be there. He wondered if he was just unlucky, or if Bokuto and Kuroo had hexed him with a tracking spell.

The lake was much larger than it seemed, and soon Sawamura’s legs were aching for a break. Up ahead, near a sandy bank of the river, was an old dock that extended out onto the lake. The dock was of questionable stability, and its poles were encrusted with barnacles and tangled up green seaweed.

Kuroo was the first to spot it. “Race you guys there!” he shouted.

Bokuto took off at a sprint, shoving at Kuroo as he passed, while Sawamura continued to walk at his comfortable, leisurely pace. He had vials of ink in his bag and, knowing his luck, they would spill all over his work if he ran like those two.

Bokuto and Kuroo were standing at the end of the rickety dock, panting with their hands on their knees, when Sawamura reached them.

“I won!” Bokuto said.

“Liar!” Kuroo shouted, trying to catch his breath. “I totally—got here—before you.”

“Sawamura,” Bokuto said, “tell Kuroo I won!”

“You tied,” Sawamura said. “I don’t get why you two ran here. What’s so exciting about a dock?”

“Well, you see Sawamura,” Kuroo said as he began to undo his tie, “when there’s a dock, you run down it and then jump into the water.”

Without any ceremony or warning, Bokuto dropped his pants, leaving him in his underwear. Sawamura kindly looked away.

“I wonder if the giant squid can capture you,” Bokuto said as he continued to derobe. Thankfully he kept on his underwear.

“The Slytherin dungeon has windows and you can see the squid sometimes,” Kuroo said.

“That’s awesome!” Bokuto said.

“I know, right?” Kuroo responded, grinning.

With a running start, the two jumped into the lake, splashing each other and shouting about who could hold their breath longer. Kuroo hated to lose and demanded rematches each time Bokuto beat him.

Sawamura sat down under a nearby tree, refusing to get into the dirty lake, and pulled out his Potions homework. Despite his best efforts, his ink vials had spilled everywhere.

 

* * *

 

Gryffindor had flying lessons with Slytherin at the end of September. They had been at Hogwarts for a month, and Sawamura was used to Bokuto and Kuroo’s constant pestering. His days consisted of Bokuto stealing his toast with marmalade at breakfast, and Kuroo finding him in the library, despite Sawamura’s efforts to find the dustiest, most secluded corners.

Sawamura grew to tolerate them, and expect them to some extent, but Bokuto and Kuroo were still a far cry from Sugawara and his comfortable companionship.

On the day of flying lessons, Kuroo attached himself to Sawamura’s side like a leech, walking silently alongside Sawamura as they headed towards the Quidditch Pitch where their instructor was waiting for them.

Kuroo was quieter when Bokuto was not around. Sawamura didn’t really mind. Kuroo kept his hands in his pockets and walked with a bit of a slouch, and Sawamura wondered how tall Kuroo actually was.

“Have you flown before?” Kuroo asked as they entered the Pitch.

“A few times,” Sawamura said. Sugawara and he had stolen a broomstick and flown in the alley behind Sugawara’s family bakery, but their parents caught them and made them stop. He asked, “Have you?”

“A couple of times. We should race after lessons.”

“On brooms?”

Kuroo gave him a look. “What else would we race on?”

The grass of the Pitch was soft and green beneath their feet, and lined with old but sturdy brooms. Their professor told them to hurry up, and Gryffindors and Slytherins alike took their spots next to a broom, eagerly awaiting their next instruction. Kuroo took his spot next to Sawamura, who was hardly surprised.

The first step to flying was to shout “UP!” until the broom flew into their hand. Sawamura shouted once, and the broom flew directly into his hand with a strong force that nearly knocked him over. Kuroo did not shout, but said it, and the broom came up with the same force as Sawamura’s.

“Do you think Bo will get it his first try?” Kuroo asked.

Sawamura tried to imagine Bokuto shouting at a broom, only to have the broom roll around the ground. He would get upset and dejected.

Sawamura shook his head. “Probably not.”

Before Sawamura knew it, it was time to fly. They mounted their brooms and pushed off from the ground. Some students merely jumped into the air, while others began to hover.

After a few attempts, Sawamura rose into the air and held his breath. Air rushed around him, the ground seemed a little further away, and besides him, he saw Kuroo, who was surprisingly steady on his broom. Kuroo smile and, for some reason, Sawamura did too.

 

* * *

 

_Daichi,_

_We have a class called Practical Magic to learn household spells. We went into the kitchens one class, and the head chef liked me, so she lets me in when I want to bake. I learned a new spell that may help my mom with her sprinkle colors._

_Have you had flying lessons yet? We had ours today. We learn brooms our first year, and in fifth year we have the option to learn how to ride pegasi. I can’t wait! It’s hard to stay on the broom, but I think I’ll get better if I practice more._

_I bet five sickles that you will be friends with Kuroo and Bokuto by the end of the year. Do you think they would like chocoballs? I want to try a new recipe._

_–Sugawara_

 

* * *

 

Sawamura was asleep when he heard a knocking on the window of his dormitory in Gryffindor Tower. He wondered if his roommate’s owl needed to be let in, or if there was a storm outside.

He swung his legs out of bed, noting that none of his roommates had heard the noise, and stood up to see what was going on. When he moved the curtain to the side, he could make out Kuroo waving at him from the inky night sky.

Sawamura hurriedly opened the window. The October air was cold and dry, and made his skin prickle with Goosebumps. The wind howled around Gryffindor Tower, and sent Kuroo’s wild hair flying in every direction.

He stuck his head out and saw Kuroo on a broomstick, hovering in the middle of the air, dangerously high above the ground.

“I said I wanted to race,” Kuroo said. He held onto his broomstick with one hand, and lifted a second broom with the other. “So let’s race.”

Sawamura felt his jaw drop. Was Kuroo insane? What if he fell? How many points would Sawamura lose if he caused another student to die? How was Kuroo not freezing to death?

Kuroo waved the spare broom in front of him, urging Sawamura to take it. Sawamura would have been crazy to take it. What was Kuroo thinking?

Then Kuroo grinned and said, “What, you’re not scared, are you?”

Maybe Sawamura was meant to be in Gryffindor after all because he could not turn back after hearing that, or maybe he just refused to lose to Kuroo.

“Where to?” Sawamura asked.

They decided to do three laps around the castle. The start and end would be Gryffindor tower.

Sawamura sat on the edge of his window, looking down below him, and wondering how badly it would hurt if he fell. Luckily, he got on his broom without falling to his death, and hovered in the air next to Kuroo.

They counted down to ten and then took off.

The frigid night air stung against his face, and his pajamas suddenly felt too thin, and Kuroo was right beside him for entirety of the first lap. On the second lap, Kuroo went left at the bell tower, going over the castle, while Sawamura went right over the grounds. The grass that had been green earlier that week was suddenly black in the darkness, and it looked like nothing was below him, nothing at all.

Something about it excited him. The rush of the air, the broom beneath his hands, the bright moon above.

Sawamura could see Kuroo ahead—turning left had been faster, or maybe Sawamura got a little too distracted by his surroundings.

Eager to catch up, he turned sharply.

But Sawamura cut the turn too harshly and his weight suddenly became an issue. He was nearly parallel to the ground as he turned. He exposed too much of his body to the force of gravity, and even his tight grip on the broom handle could keep him from falling off his broom.

In a moment of blind panic, he grasped at thin air, and thought, _I didn’t respond to Suga’s letter._

He waited for impact with the hard ground, but it never came.

Instead, he fell into a tree. The thin branches at the top were uncomfortable and stabbed at his skin, and he heard a violent crack as he fell through the lower, thicker branches that knocked his breath away and bruised his ribs.

 _Please don’t be the Whomping Willow_ , he thought, before it was hard to think at all.

He hung off one of the lowest branches, his abdomen spread across its width, with his arms, legs, and head dangling helplessly.

“Sawamura!” Kuroo called out, panic in his voice. “Are you okay?”

Sawamura felt his vision swim. His arm hurt. Merlin, he was going to pass out…

 

* * *

 

Sawamura awoke in the Hospital Wing, with Bokuto sitting at the foot of his bed, surrounded by empty chocolate frog containers and a half-eaten box of jelly slugs.

Where was Kuroo? Was he okay? What _happened?_

Sawamura tried to sit up, but when he used his arm to push himself up, he felt a sharp, throbbing pain and groaned. He fell back and looked at his arm, which was wrapped in a hard, white cast. Bokuto had signed his name, poorly.

“The healer is out at lunch,” Bokuto said. “She’ll be back soon.”

“What happened?” Sawamura asked. “I was flying with Kuroo then I fell.”

“You broke your arm. Kuroo got a prefect and they carried you to the Hospital Wing.” Bokuto handed him the box of jelly slugs. Sawamura shook his head. Bokuto took out a slug and stuck it in his mouth, then continued to talk as the piece of candy dangled between his lips, “You’ll be out in two days, I think. Since you were knocked out, the healer couldn’t give you the right potions to heal your arm immediately.”

“Think I’ll get an extension on the potions essay?” Sawamura asked, sighing. “I can’t hold a quill like this.”

Bokuto shrugged, mouth too full of jelly slugs to answer.

Suddenly, like he just remembered, Bokuto pulled out a letter from his robe. “Got this for you at breakfast.”

Sawamura took the letter, staring at his mother’s handwriting on the back. He frowned. “How’d you get this?”

“An, uh, owl gave it to me,” Bokuto said, staring at his candy, which was weird because Bokuto always made intense, awkward eye-contact.

“Why’d an owl give it to you?” Sawamura asked.

Bokuto shrugged and looked up. “Maybe it knew you were stuck here and decided to give it to a friend to give to you?”

Sawamura frowned. Maybe. It didn’t really matter, did it?

“Who’s it from?” Bokuto asked curiously.

“My parents,” Sawamura said. He still had to respond to Sugawara’s last letter.

“You write to them a lot, don’t you?” Bokuto asked. Sawamura gave him a strange look. “You’re always writing letters! Kuroo pointed it out. He notices weird things.”

“I don’t really write my parents much, just my friend.”

“Who?”

“No one,” Sawamura said, suddenly protective. He got that way about Sugawara, sometimes.

 

* * *

 

_Suga,_

_Five sickles? Deal._

_Flying lessons went well. Flying at night with Kuroo did not. In Hospital Wing now. Broke arm. Will write more later when my arm is not half-broken._

_–Daichi_

_PS: Chocoballs sound good._

 

* * *

 

Sawamura’s arm healed as the leaves turned red and brown. Giant pumpkins grew at the forest’s edge. Bokuto told him they would be craved for the Halloween feast at the end of the month.

Kuroo did not see him once while he was in the Hospital Wing. However, there was always candy on his bedside, and Sawamura figured it wasn’t Bokuto putting it there (usually, it was Bokuto eating it). If Kuroo felt bad enough to not show his face, then Sawamura didn’t feel the need to force him to apologize.

On a Friday afternoon, when Sawamura was doing his Potions homework in the library, Bokuto and Kuroo joined him without asking. But Bokuto had chocolate frogs to share, and Kuroo’s kitten had curled into Sawamura’s lap. Sawamura wasn’t stupid enough to turn down free candy or so cruel as to make a sleeping kitten move.

After devouring unhealthy amounts of candy and writing twelve inches on the Cure for Boils, Kuroo’s kitten Kenma awoke and finally succeeding in maiming Bokuto.

Kenma scratched Bokuto’s face, breaking his skin, which forced the Gryffindor to go to the Hospital Wing. Sawamura, of course, was roped into accompanying them since Bokuto was “going to die an honorable death after sustaining a wound in battle—just tell everyone it was a lion instead of Kenma!”

But it wasn’t just Kenma. Sawamura had noticed something. Every single cat at Hogwarts hated Bokuto. They hissed, clawed, and cornered him at every chance, and even tried to trip him down the steps.

Sawamura once found him in the dungeons surrounded by every Slytherin-owned cat, unable to move because there were just too many. Sawamura had reluctantly helped him after seeing that Bokuto had many more scratches than Kenma alone could ever give him.

A few days later, by the time Bokuto had removed the bandage on his face and Kuroo had stopped bringing Kenma with him whenever he went to bug Sawamura in the library, Sawamura was by himself in the courtyard, doing his star charts for Astronomy.

It really was no surprise when Kuroo and Boktuo arrived. Kuroo sat on his left and Bokuto sat on his right, sandwiching him.

“So cats hate Bokuto,” Kuroo said, like it was a revelation that would shock the world.

“Yeah, and?” Sawamura said.

“And he won’t tell me why,” Kuroo said. “But he knows. He said he knows and that it ‘isn’t a big deal.’ So it’s our job to make him tell us, Sawamura.”

Sawamura was curious. He had never seen something like the cats’ hatred for Bokuto. But he had better things to do, like his star chart that was due at midnight.

“Maybe there isn’t a reason and Bokuto is messing with you,” Sawamura said.

Kuroo looked doubtful.

 

* * *

 

On Halloween morning, Sawamura went to the Great Hall for breakfast and saw the massive pumpkins from the forest’s edge had been carved into intricate jack-o-lanterns that were large enough to sleep in. Bats swooped down to sip at the bowls of pumpkin juice, and owls becked at the pumpkin bread after delivering their morning letters.

Sawamura was sitting by himself at the Gryffindor table, slowly eating his toast and jam, when Kuroo came over.

“Hey, Sawamura, are you doing anything tonight?”

He answered honestly because the last time Sawamura agreed to do something with Kuroo, he fell off his broom and nearly died, and it’s not like Kuroo could do anything worse than that… right?

“I’m going to the feast,” Sawamura said.

“Are you doing anything after that?” Kuroo asked.

“No. Why?”

“Be my second?”

“Uh, sure?” Sawamura frowned, his eyebrows pinching together. He had no idea what that meant. “What would I have to do?”

“I’ll meet you in the Great Hall at eleven thirty. Prefects should be done their rounds by then.”

“Eleven thirty? At night?”

Kuroo waved over his shoulder as he left. Sawamura stared at the Slytherin’s retreating back.

Yet, without any idea what Kuroo needed or what a “second” was, Sawamura still found himself outside the Great Hall at eleven thirty sharp. He figured it would be rude to turn down a direct request, even if he did have plans to read for History of Magic and was still uncomfortably full from the Halloween feast.

By the time Sawamura arrived, Kuroo was already waiting. The Slytherin shoved away from the wall and began to descend the stairs into the dungeons without a word. Once again, Sawamura was reminded how quiet Kuroo could be when Bokuto was not around.

“Hey, Kuroo,” Sawamura said, following after him, “where are we going? What are we doing?”

“Hopefully you won’t have to do anything,” Kuroo said. “Unless I die.”

 _Die?_ Sawamura thought.

“What have you gotten yourself into?”

“It’s just a duel, Sawamura, don’t be so serious,” Kuroo said lightly.

“Why? With who?”

“One of my roommates. He called a friend of mine a mud-blood.”

“Bokuto?”

Kuroo shook his head. “Nah. Bo’s not muggle-born. I may shock you to hear this, but I have friends other than you two.”

“But you asked me to be your… second?” Sawamura said, hesitant. He thought that’s what Kuroo said earlier, but he didn’t know much about duels.

“A second takes over if the first person dies,” Kuroo said. He turned and grinned at Sawamura. “If you die, no one takes over, though, and we lose.”

Sawamura frowned. He didn’t like the sound of that. (Losing, or dying.)

They rounded one last corner. At the end of the hall were two Slytherin boys whose names Sawamura did not know despite recognizing their faces. One of them must have been Kuroo’s roommate.

“You picked a Gryffindor to be your second?” one of the boys laughed. “You must be desperate, Kuroo.”

And just like that, Kuroo changed. Sawamura didn’t know why, or how, but something changed.

Kuroo pulled out his wand and said, “Let’s get this over with.”

Sawamura watched as Kuroo and his roommate distanced themselves. They rose their wands—Kuroo’s slick and black, with a twisted handle—and the duel began.

It was Kuroo’s roommate that moved first. He cast a simple jinx, one that had Kuroo looking at his feet and laughing.

“Laughing, are we?” Kuroo’s opponent mocked. “After all that fuss you made about me calling your friend a mud-blood?”

A Tickling Jinx, completely harmless. Sawamura didn’t know why he had been worried. What bad spells could a first year know, anyways?

Sawamura regretted his own thoughts when he saw Kuroo’s face. There was something uncomforting about hearing Kuroo laugh the way he did with Bokuto and him, and seeing the face he currently wore—like he was looking at something disgusting. The two did not fit together, and Sawamura felt a shiver run up his spine.

Then Kuroo shot off a spell Sawamura had never heard of, something that was harsh on his tongue and was spit out like snake venom. Sawamura watched in horror as Kuroo’s roommate doubled over before dropping to his knees, something thick, sticky, and red running from his mouth.

“I’ll hex off your tongue so you can never say that word again!” Kuroo said, his voice deep. “Just try and talk, I dare you!”

His roommate coughed red. _Blood._

“Kuroo, stop!” Sawamura said. He rushed forward, grabbed onto Kuroo’s dominant arm, and yanked down, breaking the hex.

Kuroo glared at him. “Why’d you stop me? He deserves it.”

“You went too far.”

“He called my friend a mud-blood! Don’t you know what that means?”

“Yes!” Sawamura said. “But you shouldn’t go hexing people’s tongues for saying it. You’re no better than them if you do that.”

Sawamura did not waver. He kept his shoulders tight and his head high, and did not move his eyes from Kuroo’s. Sawamura would not let Kuroo go down this path, no matter the reason. This was the kind of thing that marked Slytherins as dark wizards.

Even if Kuroo was a Slytherin, he was not a dark wizard. Sawamura wasn’t going to stand by and let him become one.

“Kuroo,” Sawamura said. “Let’s go.”

Kuroo exhaled sharply. He finally relaxed his grip on his wand, pocketing it.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Kuroo said, not looking at the boy on the ground as he walked away.

 

* * *

 

_Daichi,_

_I sent chocoballs, pumpkin pasties, and some of my mom’s sugar cookies. Let me know if Bokuto and Kuroo like them! If they do, tell them I can make more._

_Is your arm feeling better? Broken bones don’t take long to heal, do they? I thought there were potions for that._

_My friends and I went swimming in one of the lagoons today. The water is heated year round for the water nymphs that live there. We blew up tubes and the nymphs moved the water to push us around._

_We made a Growth Solution in Potions class. If you pour it on the ground, flowers pop up! Which flowers grow depends on which petals you use in the potion. We should try making one over summer break for your mom’s garden._

_–Sugawara_

 

* * *

 

Snow came during the first week of November along with Sugawara’s latest letter.

 _Of course Suga would have friends_ , Sawamura thought. _Why wouldn’t he?_

But the thought still made Sawamura mad, and sad, and envious, and every other combination of emotions. Things would have been so much easier if Sugawara had just come to Hogwarts instead of Beauxbaton.

If Sugawara was with him, he wouldn’t have to deal with Bokuto or Kuroo.

More importantly, Sugawara would be with _him_ , not with nameless “friends” Sawamura knew nothing about.

Bokuto and Kuroo were thrilled when they saw Sugawara’s latest snacks—chocoballs, pumpkin pasties, and Sugawara’s mom’s homemade sugar cookies. They sat in plush chairs in the library with Sugawara’s tin of sweets and their Herbology project.

“Is this your friend who always makes you things?” Bokuto asked, his fingers covered in icing. “The one you always never tell us about?”

Sawamura frowned.

“I have a friend back home,” Kuroo said in passing. “Kenma.”

“Your cat?” Bokuto asked. “Nah, mate, I saw your cat the other day. It tried to kill me by tripping me down the steps. Do you just let that thing run wild?”

Kuroo shrugged. “He wants to stretch his legs.”

“Back to the name,” Sawamura said, curious.

“I named my cat after my friend to annoy him,” Kuroo said, grinning. “Besides, Kenma is a lot like a cat.”

Sawamura rubbed his temples. “Okay, now I’m confused. Is the cat like the cat, or the human like that cat?”

“Is the cat like a human?” Bokuto asked eagerly.

Sawamura couldn’t help it—he laughed.

 

* * *

 

Sawamura headed up the steep, icy steps to the owlery. He had finished Sugawara’s letter that morning at breakfast. He assured Sugawara that his arm was healed, and chronicled the failings of Bokuto’s potion brewing and Kuroo’s exploding feather in Charms.

He swung open the rusty door and looked around for a school-owned owl that he could borrow to send his letter. Most of the owls were out with morning mail, leaving slim pickings.

In fact, there were only two owls. There was a tiny barn owl with crooked eyes and a screeching owl next to a sign that read “warning: she bites!”

“Do I want to lose a finger, or have the owl lose Suga’s letter?” he muttered to himself.

Just then, a large, fluffy owl with beautiful black and white features swooped in from the window.

The snowy owl’s wings were damp with melted snow and slush. It sat in the center where the food was, pecking at the pellets, before turning its head to stare at Sawamura with yellow eyes that were oddly familiar.

“Hey there,” Sawamura said, trying to sound as non-threatening as possible.

“Hoot?”

He held up his letter. “Can you deliver this, or does a student own you?”

The snowy owl took a few more bites of food then hopped over and stuck out its head, beak ajar. Sawamura held out the letter and the owl took it with a _snap,_ its beak so sharp it nearly punctured the paper.

As the bird flew off, Sawamura had the feeling that he had made a big, big mistake.

 _Maybe I spelled my name wrong when I signed the letter,_ he thought as he hurried back down the stairs.

 

* * *

 

Later that day, between classes, Sawamura spotted Kuroo and Bokuto crouched on the ground next to a suit of armor that pointed you to the bathroom if you asked. They were reading something from a piece of parchment.

Sawamura stopped in front of them, wondering if they were copying homework, or if someone had finally gone crazy from potion fumes and given one of them a love letter. They were grinning and laughing, obviously enjoying whatever was written on the parchment.

Kuroo looked up, his eyes going wide, and he nudged Bokuto with his elbow, but Boktuo didn’t seem to notice. The Hufflepuff pointed excitedly at something on the parchment, laughing louder than before.

“Look!” Bokuto said, positively delighted. “He spelled his name wrong.”

Sawamura’s eyes widened.

“Hey there, Sawamura,” Kuroo said, with a look of a man who had accepted his fate at the gallows.

Sawamura snatched the parchment from Bokuto’s hands and stared at his letter, the one he had given to the yellow-eyed snowy owl that morning. That letter was meant for Sugawara, not Bokuto and Kuroo!

“How did you get this?” Sawamura said, voice deep with anger. He crumpled the letter in his fist.

“Bo said he found it outside the Great Hall,” Kuroo said. “It must’ve fallen out of your bag. You should really be more careful.”

“No, I gave the letter to an owl this morning,” Sawamura said, staring intensely at Bokuto.

Bokuto laughed nervously and looked at the ground, his yellow eyes not meeting Sawamura’s eyes. _His yellow eyes_ , Sawamura thought.

The feathers on Bokuto’s blanket, how Bokuto got his letters from an owl when he was in the Hospital Wing, the reason cats hated him—it all made perfect sense!

“Merlin,” Sawamura said, putting it together. “You’re a bloody _bird_?”

Bokuto made a squawk-like noise.

“Is that why cats hate you?” Kuroo asked. Bokuto nodded slowly. “Dude, that’s awesome! Why didn’t you say so sooner?”

“Half-breeds aren’t exactly well liked,” Bokuto said, still not meeting Sawamura’s eyes.

“But you can change into an owl!” Kuroo said. “I bet you look awesome, mate.”

Bokuto didn’t respond with vigorous excitement like Sawamura expected. He was oddly silent. Sawamura had seen him like this before, when he looked dejected and quiet, like a switch had been flipped.

“Do you just go into the owlery and steal people’s letters?” Sawamura asked. His anger had not subsided, even with the strange look on Bokuto’s face. “I bet that’s illegal. I should tell your head of house!”

Bokuto’s face dropped along with his shoulders. He bounced up to his feet and grabbed Sawamura’s arms.

“Please don’t!” Bokuto said. “I don’t even visit the owlery that often. I was stretching my wings and got hungry for a snack. Even if I go to the owlery, I never take students letters. I was just curious ‘cause you’re always writing but never say to who.”

Sawamura’s face did not lighten. He jerked away from Bokuto’s grasp, said, “You’re the worst,” and walked away.

 

* * *

 

Sawamura didn’t talk to Bokuto for the rest of the week. More surprisingly, Bokuto didn’t make any effort to talk to him either.

Sawamura went to the library by himself, and was not bothered by Bokuto and Kuroo, which meant he did not have chocolate frogs or jelly slugs to munch on, or anyone to tell him the Herbology homework.

He walked to classes by himself, without Bokuto on his left and Kuroo on his right, which meant he forgot about the step that tripped you going up to the third floor. Sawamura felt flat on his face and had to go to the Hospital Wing to get his nose to stop bleeding.

He had no one to play Exploding Snap with, and the book he had been trying to read all term (the one Bokuto and Kuroo always interrupted him while he read) was dreadfully boring.

After a full week of cold war, Sawamura headed down to the Great Lake. Snow was piled high, but older students had melted paths to get around the grounds. The lake was not frozen solid, though the water was dreadfully cold. For some reason, Sawamura thought back to September, when Bokuto and Kuroo had jumped into the lake.

Sawamura found a spot on the lakebed that would be perfected for skipping rocks. He found a small pile of rocks and sat on the bank of the lake, skipping the rocks aimlessly.

Soon after he began, Kuroo appeared, holding a jar of blue flames. He sat next to Sawamura.

“What?” Sawamura asked, short. Bokuto was the one who stole the letter, but Kuroo had been laughing too.

“Bo thinks you hate him,” Kuroo said.

“I do hate him,” Sawamura said. “He stole my letter and read it.”

“He thinks you hate him because he’s a half-breed.”

Sawamura turned and stared at Kuroo.

“His mother is some type of nature spirit,” Kuroo explained, leaning back on his hands and looking out at the lake. “People have prosecuted his kind before. He’s terrified you’re going to tell someone and he’ll get kicked out of school. He’s been down all week. It’s getting kind of annoying.”

Sawamura grabbed a flat rock from his pile of skipping stones, turned it in his hand for a moment, and then chucked it into the lake. It skipped twice before sinking.

“I’m only mad because he read my letter,” Sawamura said. “I couldn’t care less if he can turn into an owl.”

 _Suga’s a half-breed too_ , Sawamura thought, but didn’t say it. _His grandmother’s a Veela._

Kuroo was quiet. At least for a few minutes.

Then he asked, “What was so important about that letter anyways? It was just to some Suga, whoever that is.”

Sawamura turned his head, glaring, and Kuroo held up his hands like he was innocent. He was innocent, Sawamura realized. Kuroo was only asking.

Sawamura skipped another rock. “I grew up with him. We were going to come here together, but he decided to go to his mom’s school instead.”

“And why did that have to be a secret?”

Sawamura hesitated. “Why did you need to know?”

“Because we’re friends.” Kuroo stood up, dusting off his robes and making a big show out of stretching. “You know, you would make a pretty good Slytherin, Sawamura.”

Sawamura stared at Kuroo while he walked away.

 

* * *

 

Nothing changed. Sawamura didn’t know why he thought things would change, but he had. He had expected Kuroo to relay his feelings to Bokuto, who would be happy to learn that Sawamura was only mad that he stole the letter and couldn’t care less about his birth or ability.

But Bokuto remained quiet.

Then, on the last day of November, something happened.

Sawamura was yawning, trying to listen to their professor. When he looked down at his notes, he saw a folded up bit of parchment. He unfolded it and read the scratchy note:

_Do you want to watch?_

Watch? Watch what?

Sawamura looked up and saw Bokuto, who must have been the one to throw the letter, make little flapping motions with his hands. Sawamura had never seen something so comically pathetic.

Sawamura understood: _do you want to watch me transform?_

Bokuto was restlessly looking between Sawamura and windows. Sawamura nearly laughed. Instead, he nodded, and looked back at his notes. He didn’t look down quick enough and saw Bokuto’s fists shoot up into the air.

Even if he hadn’t seen it, their professor said, “Calm down, Mister Bokuto, or I’ll be taking points!”

 

* * *

 

The winter air was chillingly cold, and Sawamura wished he had worn his gloves when he met with Bokuto and Kuroo in the courtyard. Bokuto’s yellow eyes were darting around nervously—like an owl that had spotted something. Kuroo waved at him from beneath his many layers of robes, scarves, and gloves.

“How does this work?” Sawamura asked. It was the first thing he had said to Bokuto in nearly a month.

Bokuto stared at him very intensely. “By the forbidden forest. No one goes there.”

Sawamura nodded.

“You lead the way, Bo,” Kuroo said.

Bokuto took off, not quite jogging, but not walking slowly either. He had on his winter robes, his tie undone, and Sawamura wondered what happened to his clothes when he transformed. Would Bokuto have to get naked?

Kuroo was thinking the same thing. “Do you have to drop your pants?”

“My mom taught me this spell that makes my clothes transform with me,” Bokuto said. “I put it on all my clothes. Well, I missed a pair of underwear and lost them by the Great Lake last month, but I made sure to cast the spell this time!”

Sawamura wondered if that was sanitary. Kuroo merely grinned.

The air seemed even colder at the edge of the forbidden forest. Kuroo melted a path in the snow for them to walk along. Bokuto constantly looked around to see if anyone was near, but there was no one but them. There weren’t even animal prints in the snow.

When Kuroo pocketed his wand, Bokuto suddenly stilled. He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes. Sawamura and Kuroo exchanged looks briefly then focused on the Hufflepuff, who had begun to change.

Bokuto’s white and black striped hair began to look more striated, like feathers, and his eyebrows grew in size. His hands twitched as feathers appeared at the ends of his robes, growing out from his arms. His robes began to fuse to his skin, which was now soft and feathery, and he shrunk proportionally throughout his body.

It happened smoothly, in a way that Sawamura would never be able to explain. He blinked and it was over.

Bokuto was standing there on claws instead of feet. He rubbed his beak along his wing feathers, picking and tugging at a few, before looking at them.

Bokuto was actually an owl. Somehow, despite knowing that, Sawamura was still surprised.

Before Sawamura or Kuroo could say anything, Bokuto began to flap his wings, gaining altitude, and flew off.

“That’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,” Kuroo said.

Sawamura nodded, smiling and unable to disagree.

Five minutes later, when Bokuto came back with half a raw rabbit in his beak, his feathered face covered in red, Sawamura stopped smiling.

“Okay,” Sawamura said, turning and walking away. “I’m done.”

He was halfway up the hill when Kuroo swung his arm around his shoulders and a very-human Bokuto jumped onto his back.

 

* * *

 

_Suga,_

_I think I owe you five sickles._

_–Daichi_

 

**Author's Note:**

> I have some random headcanons for this AU. Would anyone be interested if I wrote more for this AU?


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